Preseason Week 2 Bills at Bears - Game thread

[Utah John]

8 minutes ago, Billz4ever said:

 

We even screwed that up.

 

KC has the guy we spent the draft pick on.

 

 

The Bills didn't screw that up.  Araiza was a talented punter, worthy of being drafted, and he was falsely accused of a sex crime.  While that was going on the Bills had no choice but to release him, since the legal process was still underway.  Later the woman who accused him recanted, so as a free agent he could be signed by any team.  That's not a screw up, just an unfortunate event.  

[DaVinci]

yikes

 

 

[Billz4ever]

Just now, Utah John said:

The Bills didn't screw that up.  Araiza was a talented punter, worthy of being drafted, and he was falsely accused of a sex crime.  While that was going on the Bills had no choice but to release him, since the legal process was still underway.  Later the woman who accused him recanted, so as a free agent he could be signed by any team.  That's not a screw up, just an unfortunate event.  

 

Same accusations with Hairston and they still drafted him.

 

They jumped the gun with Araiza IMO.  Should've just let the process play out.

[Roundybout]

4 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

Yikes

 

 

 

Oof. Thats coach “PR speak” for “these guys sucked butt. 

[Special K]

Shocking that when you don't play the top 25-30 players on your roster, including the league MVP, that the team looked like 💩!!

 

At least some of the rookies flashed on a few plays, but other than that a truly uninspiring performance.

 

Here's where I would put the tape from the game:

 

 

 

[gobills404]

22 minutes ago, Billz4ever said:

No what?

No to what you said

[Billz4ever]

Just now, gobills404 said:

No to what you said

 

If a certain someone that I'm not going to mention were to go down for any significant amount of time, this team isn't winning anything in the postseason.

[Tulsabillsfanz]

Many fans thought our biggest 2025 draft mistake was not drafting a WR earlier than we did.  I think it was not drafting a safety early in the draft.  The safety position looks like our weakest link this year. 

[Brand J]

Just now, Tulsabillsfanz said:

Many fans thought our biggest 2025 draft mistake was not drafting a WR earlier than we did.  I think it was not drafting a safety early in the draft.  The safety position looks like our weakest link this year. 

I heard a bunch of whispers that Malaki Starks was going to be the pick… until the Ravens snatched him ahead of us. Nick Emmanwori, I’m not sure he was ever in consideration but reports are he’s looking as advertised so far. We were really counting on Cole Bishop to take a step forward in his second year, but he keeps missing valuable reps. He‘ll have to get better in season. Glad Beane failed in his attempt to trade up for him or the pick would sting a little more. 

[Bill51390]

Hopefully the guys playing tonight got a wake up call, because tomorrow won’t be fun for some. Backups are usually gonna look rough, a lot of them don’t have the chemistry and whatnot. But there wasn’t anyone that really stood out, or stepped up. Frank Gore Jr was looking good except that fumble. I expect some motivated football next week. 

[NickelCity]

Anything on Jordan Hancock?

[gobills404]

13 minutes ago, Billz4ever said:

 

If a certain someone that I'm not going to mention were to go down for any significant amount of time, this team isn't winning anything in the postseason.

Well now I feel dumb for not realizing you were talking about Josh the first time. For some reason I was thinking you meant it will take any starter getting hurt.

[Special K]

2 minutes ago, NickelCity said:

Anything on Jordan Hancock?

 

Looked pretty much like a concussion.....walked off on his own, however.

[Billz4ever]

Just now, gobills404 said:

Well now I feel dumb for not realizing you were talking about Josh the first time. For some reason I was thinking you meant it will take any starter getting hurt.

LMAO.  Nope, just the miracle man. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

5 minutes ago, NickelCity said:

Anything on Jordan Hancock?

All I can find is a shoulder injury per Bills app

Edited Monday at 04:32 AM by Mike in Horseheads

[Sierra Foothills]

5 minutes ago, NickelCity said:

Anything on Jordan Hancock?

 

1 minute ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

All I can find is a shoulder injury

 

Well I would sign up for that...

 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

I’ll tell you what and I mean this. If Shavers is not retained on the 53 man roster, i will lose a lot of respect for the Process and the supposed “best man wins the job.” This guy has shined on every opportunity given.

[Billz4ever]

1 minute ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

All I can find is a shoulder injury per Bills app

The way he tackled that guy I was thinking maybe he got a stinger and they just kept him out after that. 

 

That would be probably the best possible outcome if that's the case.

[pennstate10]

54 minutes ago, Trust The Process said:

Beane better sign or trade for a Free Safety because Hamlin straight sucks and Bishop isn’t ready for the regular season and like Hamlin he just might suck too 

Buffalo Joe looks lost in coverage. He needs to go. 

Agree. Hamlin is too slow, BJ is slow and too slow to react. Drops are too shallow as well. We need nfl athletes at these positions, not feel good stories. 

[sven233]

There's not a lot of positive redeeming value to take out of tonight, especially on first watch.  Sure, there are a few things I want to take a look at on the All-22 when it comes out, but for the most part this one is just going to be flushed away.  I'll look at guys like Sanders, Walker, and Jackson a little closer to see how they did, but beyond that, I am not sure anything interests me to look at closer that I didn't see tonight.

 

While the result doesn't matter to me at all, what does matter to me is the overall poor play of the secondary and Andreeson.  As good of instincts as Andreeson seems to have in the run game, it is completely the opposite in the pass game.  He is lost out there and the ball is constantly going over his head for big plays.  He has no spacial awareness in zone coverage and that's a bit problem on a team that loves to play zone.  Last year, I thought he might be a guy that could get us through a game if necessary, but the more he has played, especially in this preseason, I am getting very concerned about the depth at MLB.  We have a nice player Bernard as a starter, but I am beginning to think we are nowhere at the position behind him.  And the secondary play was pretty horrific to say the least.  I hate to hit the panic button in preseason games because there is no game planning.  But the fact is, this team by all accounts wants to run more man coverage this season.  And after what I saw tonight, I am not sure we have the players to do that.  Jackson was awful.  Hairston is hurt and going to be running way behind in terms of reps even when he does come back.  And Tre, while a nice story and a great guy, isn't someone I want lining up in man anyway.  So, I am worried about the depth there, at least until Hairston is healthy and gets his legs under him and enough reps to matter.

 

And this leads me to the Safety position..... Ugh.  I have a bad feeling we are going to be longing for the days of Hyde and Poyer holding it down back there for almost a decade.  Look....I am not like many on here just writing Bishop off yet.  I do think there is some physical talent there, but there's already questions about his health and how much he can play.  The other question is whether or not he will get it mentally and he just hasn't been on the field enough to develop that either.  Hamlin is a fringe backup.  Rapp is a decent player, but he has injury concerns with the way he plays.  Honestly, we just don't have much at the position behind him at this point and that could be a problem.  I mean, a problem to the point where I am ready to bring someone else in.  But is anyone that you can bring in going to pick up the defense in 2-3 weeks enough to make a difference?  I mean, are we going to be desperate enough to bring in a physically shot Poyer that at least knows the defense as depth?  I don't know.  But if I am Beane, I am shopping around for a Safety for sure.

 

There are other things I am going to go back and take a look at as I mentioned, but coming out of this one, it's about MLB and Safety depth for sure.